Monday, June 13, 2016
PSALM 91
Sunday, June 12, 2016
RENEWING OUR STRENGTH
This verse has probably impacted me more than many throughout my Christian experience, yet, I'm still asking the Lord, "How do I rise up on those eagle's wings today?" I'm learning, as my body grows weaker, what it means to "mount up," and to "run and not be weary," and to "walk and not faint." All through life we face the world, the flesh, and the devil in some way, and sometimes all 3 at once. This is the Christian life. It is not a life of ease and happiness in this world. It is as Paul put it "the good fight of faith." Sometimes we grow weak. But each time we learn to "put on Christ" and renew our strength. We see many metaphors in God's Word that shows us this same principle. Putting on Christ, putting on the whole armor of God, waiting on the Lord, and looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
(9) But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(10) For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I have a problem with physical weakness and fatigue. Many times I've prayed for physical strength and sought ways to try to find health and strength, and I find myself many days unable anyway, to do much other than just give into it and lay down. I can't "mount up" physically, anyway. But I'm learning in those times to mount up on the inside, in my soul, by looking unto Jesus, surrendering my body to Him and giving myself up to Him for His glory, whether in strength or weakness of body. My nature is to wine and moan under it and complain that my life is good for nothing. But when I look to Him, and put on Christ, waiting on Him in prayer and embracing His promises and encouragement and strength of His Word I find inside my hidden life in Christ mounts up and overcomes and I can fly above it with wings of eagles. I can soar above the things of this world troubling me, oppressing me, weighing me down, and I can rise up into the heavenly places where my new life is with Christ.
This is where we really are, if indeed, we are "in Christ." We are here in this earth in these bodies yet we are "seated in the Heavenlies with Christ."
Ephesians 2:4-6
(4) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
(5) even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
(6) and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
It is hard to fathom, yet it is true. It is our reality. He doesn't say He "will" seat us, but that He "has." And when we learn to embrace it, and to trust it as fact, we learn also to live there in that heavenly place with Him where our real life is, even as we walk this weary pilgrim path below in these frail bodies subject to pain and weakness.
Colossians 3:1-3
(1) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
(2) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
(3) For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
It is a done deal. It is finished. It is His work. When we learn to believe it, embrace it, and count on it, it renews our spiritual energy and fills us with joy. His joy is our strength. With that assurance and joy we can face anything, we can overcome anything. Without it, we are weak and vulnerable to the enemy. We are miserable Christians crippled in our walk, unable to stand, but always faltering. Without that assurance, our eyes are always on ourselves and this life here, as though that alone were our life in Christ. But He has already raised us up with Himself in the heavenly places. How is that so? He dwells in eternity, where there is no time. He has spiritually made it so for us through His finished work, and declared us His forever, given us His Spirit as a down payment, and our life now, in the Spirit, is with Him there where He is. All the spiritual blessings we need to walk here, are there with Him, and available to us as we walk in faith in our heavenly position and calling.
We are to ask God for a revelation of this blessed salvation and power for life. As we do He reveals it to us more and more in our lives and teaches us to apply it.
Ephesians 1:15-20
(15) For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,
(16) I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
(17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
(18) having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
(19) and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
(20) that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
Waiting on the Lord is simply taking the time to seek His face, to embrace His promises, to learn from Him through His Word and prayer and relying on His Spirit, as we each day, depend on Him to live His life in us and through us. It takes time to wait on Him. It takes effort. Sometimes it takes sitting before Him asking Him to examine our hearts, to reveal our flesh and weakness and failures to us, to lead us to His Word of instruction, encouragement, promises, and admonition. It takes laying our lives at His feet, at the foot of His cross, and surrendering to Him, trusting Him to raise us up with the power of His life in us, to a newness of life to Him. It takes time to wait on the Lord. Many times we don't want to take that time. So the Lord, in His faithfulness takes us aside, where our life's activity is put on hold, and we have to stop and seek His face, and renew our spiritual strength, waiting on Him, until He lifts us up again. If you find yourself in a humbled position, acknowledge God's hand in it, and rather than fight it, submit yourself under His mighty hand until He Himself lifts you up.
1 Peter 5:6-10
(6) Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
(7) casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
(8) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
(9) Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
(10) And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
We cannot rise up with wings of eagles unless we first humble ourselves under His mighty hand submitting to His working in our hearts and waiting on Him. He alone is our "eagle's wings." Faith in His finished work raises us up.
As I grow older and my body weaker, I realize I can still rise up in the strength of the Lord, even if not doing so physically. Even as I lay on my couch some days exhausted and weak, I am able to find my spirit can rise up into the heavenly places where I find the fellowship of my Lord, where I can pray for others, where I can be encouraged and strengthened on, until that day when this body is fully redeemed even as my soul is fully redeemed now. Yet even now, as I dwell in this body, my real life is risen with Him. Nothing on earth can touch me there. This body can have pain. This body can have trouble. This body can be weak. It can suffer persecution or evil. But none of those things can touch my real life, which is hidden in Christ, raised up with Him in heavenly places, seated with Him there, as long as I learn to realize and walk in this life, and wait on Him to enable me to embrace it and fully trust it.
What promises we have in this Christian life! What riches He has given us that we too often do not partake of! We must wait on the Lord to receive all that He has for us now, for His glory on us, in us, and through us, and His life manifested to us empowering us. There is no short cuts in the Christian life. There is no spiritual experience or anointing that somehow makes you super Christian overnight. There is no secret imparting by some spiritual person that will get you through the Christian life and give you super spirituality. There is only Christ, His life, received, submitted to, believed, and lived, day by day, waiting on Him, trusting Him, and surrendering all to Him. May the Lord grant us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a revelation of His great love to us, as we wait on Him, renewing our strength daily.
If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
CALLED TO HIS OWN GLORY AND EXCELLENCE
(3) His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
(4) by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
Romans 8:29-31
(29) For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
(30) And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(31) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
"It is not by godliness that we obtain life, but by life, godliness." -J, F, & B
It is through our knowledge of Christ alone, knowing Him, that we are called to His own glory and excellence! Imagine for a few minutes what that means. Are you, am I, living life to that calling? Think on what His own glory and excellence are. Think of what life will be like with Him very shortly, when this life is over. What a gift of life and time we have right now to be daily more and more prepared for that excellence! That glory! All of life takes on a new perspective when we give up our own "glory" for His excellence and glory. We are even now, in His eyes, seated with Him in the Heavenlies (Ephesians 2:4-10), lifted up above this world where no evil can separates us from Him, even as we live out that here below, that He has given to us - His own glory and excellence. We realize it more and more as we walk in faith abiding in His Word, learning to know Him more and more.
"Glory” here is the manifestation of the Divine Character in Christ." -Robertson's Word Pictures
His own "virtue" or "excellence" is the glory of His divine nature. His perfection. His qualities. His excellence. All of these are beyond our abilities really to fathom. Yet He tells us here that He has given us "all we need" to partake of that, to live it out in this life, and to escape the corruptions that come to those who do not know Him and that are slaves of sin, which is what causes those corruptions.
We see more and more moral corruption in our society and in the world, all the more that the world rejects and hardens itself toward God. The restraining force of godliness is being removed and moral depravity is swarming the world. Even in those who were not born again but only had an outward form of Christianity, at least were under the restraining force of godliness because of His Word. Yet now openly, boldly, and blatantly, people are outright rejecting the authority of His Word, and the knowledge of Him, and so are unable to even reason what is good or bad, what is evil or not. They are being consumed by corruption of sin and don't even know it. But those who surrender in faith to the One true God, and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent (John 17:3), can know Him, and can escape this corruption, and can walk in greater and greater excellence and virtue, all the while having the hope of being perfected in that as we at last are called to our heavenly home. It is as we learn to know Him that we can become partakers of His divine nature.
It is never our nature improved on that we are called to. It is never our works enabling us to become better persons. Even an unbeliever can become a better person. Yet, they are not able to partake of His divine nature, that nature which is true godliness and virtue and excellence. They are only able to find ways to somehow manage their own impulses and passions the best they can, as they see their own benefit in doing so, to suppress their natural tendencies, at least outwardly. But the Christian, the one who is "born again of incorruptible seed" (1 Peter 1:3-4), is able to partake of that which God has given Him, learn of Him, and grow in his walking out and working out that life of Christ in his daily life.
J, F, & B commentary: the divine nature — not God’s essence, but His holiness, including His “glory” and “virtue,”( 2 Peter 1:3); the opposite to “corruption through lust.” Sanctification is the imparting to us of God Himself by the Holy Spirit in the soul. We by faith partake also of the material nature of Jesus (Ephesians 5:30). The “divine power” enables us to be partakers of “the divine nature.”
What is this human nature in us that settles for so less? What is it in us that thinks we have so much more if we satisfy our flesh right now, and if we find some temporal happiness in this world? Yet we do settle for so much less for ourselves than what God would have for us. It may require suffering now, ridicule, rejection, loss of friends, jobs, even freedom, yet we must look beyond it all and see what the glory and excellence that He calls us to, and that the more we see of His glory, and live for His glory, the more we are partakers of it and enjoy Him. This is where true life is. This is what will give us a rich entrance into His eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior knowing His joy and delight, rather than being ashamed (2 Peter 1:5-11). This is what will keep us from falling and enable us to stand when the world and the enemy comes against us.
As Oswald Chambers wrote about, I want to give my "utmost for His highest" when I think on His glory, Who He is, and the wonders of His love and His salvation and the calling He has called me to. As Paul said,
Philippians 3:8-14
(8) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
(9) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
(10) that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
(11) that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
(12) Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
(13) Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
(14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
No looking back, but only forward to the excellence of His high calling! To the glory of Christ! Whatever difficulties, whatever weaknesses, whatever trials or temptations, this is the way to walk above them, to get through them, to overcome.
Hebrews 12:2-3
(2) looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
(3) Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
I am tempted many times to grow weary and fainthearted with this life and with this world. But I am called to something more excellent. So the Holy Spirit in me gives me power and faith to press on, revealing to me the glory of Christ and the rich reward that He brings. He energizes me with His love as I fellowship with Him in His Word partaking of that life. I'm lifted up again. I'm encouraged. I'm nourished. I'm fully dressed and prepared once again in the full armor of God.
1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 John 3:1-3
(1) See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
(2) Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
(3) And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
WHY DO CHRISTIANS ACT THE WAY THEY DO?
Why do Christians become so passionate about sin in the world? Why do they care? Christians are not better than anyone else. We know we're not. That's why we came to Jesus. Because we know we're helpless to save ourselves from our own sin, or to keep ourselves from being deceived and corrupted by the philosophies, sins, and corruptions the devil has persuaded men of in the world. Those who think they don't need Him and think they are righteous in their own works and in themselves are those who are "self-righteous," though they call Christians the very thing they are. When the Bible calls Christians "the righteous" it is not because we are somehow better people. We don't call ourselves righteous, but we call ourselves saved by His righteousness. It is because we have, by faith, received HIS righteousness in our hearts and allow that to be worked in us by faith, though we are still very much aware that "but for the grace of God there go I." Only God is righteous. He calls "righteous" whoever HE will. We are more aware probably than anyone else of our shortcomings and sins that need His forgiveness and grace. But we have come to see how awful sin is in first of all how it was the very thing that separated us from God's love and salvation. Second of all, it has a progression to it and may start out as a tiny grain of yeast…very small and seemingly insignificant but it grows and becomes terribly vile, and soon overtakes and destroys and corrupts everything else in its path and blinds minds and hearts completely and hardens them against the only love and salvation possible for them. Rom. 1 shows this progression and the utter giving over to that hardness of heart that ultimately comes of it. The world loves sin and the more it embraces sin, the more it hates the God of righteousness. We, as Christians, cannot but stand with God as we have seen sin's depravity and its destruction on the human race. Man blames God for evil all the while rejecting His goodness, His mercy, His righteousness, and then calls evil good, embracing it, and calling God evil and all that is good evil. They join satan's rebellion and so his punishment. As Christians, we see the destruction sin brings to a life, and a community, and a nation, and to the world. Ultimately sin will fill the earth and "come to its fullness" and finally when it does God will say "enough!" Christians know this day of His wrath against evil is coming and that all evil and those who have chosen it will be judged and destroyed forever, so that is why we are passionate against it, and passionate to tell people there is a way of escape, and there is a salvation and God is opening the door at this very moment saying, "Today is the day of salvation!" While it is today, choose Him!! The day will end soon. It's coming to a conclusion. You may not have tomorrow. Don't fritter away your opportunity for His grace and love as He holds it out even to the vilest sinner - whosoever will! Man's utopia is a lie and a false hope. Soon there will be a world leader called "the antichrist" who will convince the world that he can set up this utopia, and it will very quickly fall apart and be seen to be the evil that it is, and be destroyed and God's true utopia, His kingdom will come to the earth when Jesus returns, as promised, just as He came the first time as promised, and be set up as His true Kingdom that will be forever.
If you consider us "haters" for loving you and hating your sin, I hope you'll take another look at your heart and discard the hypocrisy of political correctness. Discard the hypocrisy that keeps you blinded to your own hatred towards God and all who love Him and His truth and His righteousness. Take another look and look into His Word for yourself, reading it for yourself, not letting others tell you what is in it and falsely representing it, but reading it and finding out what He says in truth. The truth shall set you free, if you embrace it. If you face yourself in His light. If you don't let your mind be manipulated and overtaken by the powers of darkness that know very well if you know that truth it would save you. You have been convinced to read and listen only to what promises you a false hope in this world, and have been kept from looking at the other side honestly. Try being honest with yourself. Discard your hypocrisy. Admit it. Face it. It will save you.
Satan knows that truth, and that is why he works so earnestly to keep people away from it, to silence it, to stomp on it, to cause people to fear to associate with it, and to deceive them into inventing all sorts of ways to accept evil calling it good and to call good evil.
Many Christians are immature in understanding how to live according to God's Spirit within them, and out of their passion they act in ways that do not represent Christ, even though they think they are doing His will. And many profess Christ but live for themselves and do not have His truth in their hearts but are following an apostasy, a counterfeit Christianity that caters to the love of their own "godhood." But those who grow in the maturity of their faith and are abiding in Christ daily learn to wait on God to work in them and through them as HE WILL, not as we will. You see, even Peter, who loved His Lord and would have laid down his life for Him, acted out of passion and ignorance to "save" His Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, raising His sword to defend Him. Yet Jesus stopped him and said "Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" He also told Pilate, that if His kingdom were of this world His servants would fight. Some don't understand His kingdom or His calling. As Christians we can act in our "flesh" or carnal nature, or ignorance of His Word, rather than yielding to His will and understanding and walking by His Spirit. As Christians we can misrepresent Him and His calling. But nobody is without excuse because we all have His Word to seek understanding, to ask of Him, and to read. You cannot blame any Christian who misrepresented God to you, for your failure to come to Him yourself and seek Him. You are the hypocrite if you do so. You cannot blame the church, if you did not go to Christ yourself to become a part of HIS church, which is eternal.
Are Christians haters? Yes we are haters of sin, because we understand it and the world does not. (Psalm_119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way… Psalm_119:128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way). We hate it as God Himself hates it, and see that it was so important that Jesus came here specifically to suffer and die because of it. We are not haters of sinners. We're all sinners. Jesus even on the cross, said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." He said to us to "love our enemies, to pray for them, and to forgive them." If we hated non-Christians, we'd let them go ahead and have their sin and not tell them the truth about it and that it is leading them to an eternal damnation if not turned from and His salvation received. Those who oppose God and embrace everything that opposes His standards are haters of God, as well as haters of all who love God. They are haters of truth and propagators of lies which are continually made up to twist facts to bend to their worldview so to deceive whoever they can. They are those who are tools in the hands of evil spirits and don't even realize it or realize that they will be devoured by and with those spirits after they do their bidding and destroyed. (We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one John 5:19). They are pawns in the hands of powers of darkness that they are not even aware of though they think themselves to be "free." Their minds and wills are controlled by these powers and lies and they think them to be their own (2 Cor._4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them). They are kept blinded and unable to see or listen to the truth, unless God opens their eyes and hearts and draws them, which He will do to all who will call out to Him. It is when He does this, and calls you to His salvation, that He is giving you the opportunity to come and receive freely that love and grace and be saved. If you resist Him when He calls, and deny Him, then you may not get another chance. If you heart convicts you of your sin, and you feel the tug, it is Him calling you. Don't fight Him or run from Him. People who continually harden their hearts eventually may become too hardened to anymore feel it at all (Romans 1:18-32).
John 6:37-40
(37) All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
(38) For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
(39) And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
(40) And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Romans 10:9-15
(9) because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
(11) For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."
(12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
(13) For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
(14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
(15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
So you see, this is why Christians must take God's side and stand with Him today in the face of evil spreading across the land as wildfire. This is why we'll take abuse, defamation, slander, injustice, and let ourselves be marginalized, hated, and we will all the more boldly proclaim Christ, and His truth, and stand with Him, just as Jesus Himself did in His day against the powers of evil and went to the cross because of it rather than fail to please God. This is why Christians across the world will let themselves be slaughtered rather than deny Christ and give themselves up to joining evil. This is why we will not become politically correct and compromise with God's Word, but will stand against what God Himself stands against for the sake of all who would be saved. This is why we are passionate about our beliefs no matter what it costs us or what we lose. If family, friends, or anyone else hate us because of it, we know what is true and cannot turn from it. Those who know Him, and have Him living in their hearts, and experience the joy of His presence and love, cannot deny Him. So do as you will, but I pray that you will turn to the truth, and turn away from evil and find the one true hope there is in this world that will be an eternal hope and never perish.
1 Peter 3:9-17
(9) Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
(10) For "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
(11) let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.
(12) For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."
(13) Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
(14) But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
(15) but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
(16) having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
(17) For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
1 Peter 4:3-5
(3) For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
(4) With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;
(5) but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
2 Peter 3:3-18
(3) knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
(4) They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."
(5) For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
(6) and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
(7) But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
(8) But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
(9) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
(10) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
(11) Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
(12) waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
(13) But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
(14) Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
(15) And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
(16) as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
(17) You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
(18) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
That day will come. Maranatha to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ!
If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
SPIRITUAL SLUMBER, SPIRITUAL WAKEFULNESS
(4) Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;
(5) save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
(6) Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
(7) Without having any chief, officer, or ruler,
(8) she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
(9) How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
(10) A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
(11) and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.
(1 Peter 5:8) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
F. B. Meyer: "The ants swarm in the woods and fields, and rebuke our laziness and thriftlessness. They work day and might, storing their galleries with food, building mounds which relatively to the size of the builders are three or four times larger than the Pyramids. In sickness they nurse one another; in the winter they feed on their supplies. Learn from the ceaseless industry of Nature, and do something worthy before sundown!"
There is a busyness that is deceptive. There is the busyness of the flesh that actually keeps us from being about the Lord's business, and causes us to be "lazy" regarding our spiritual life. It keeps us slumbering spiritually, all the while giving the semblance of being busy and serving the Lord. When we put God off, put off making right in our lives those things He would have us to deal with, put off spending time developing an abiding relationship with Him, put off learning His Word and growing in it, and put off that thing He has been gently convicting us to do or to deal with, we may not realize we are in a spiritual slumber. We know we must be diligent to take care of our families, to work and bring home provision for ourselves and our families and have something to share with others as well. We know we must be busy and diligent to get things done that have to be done, and not let them slide. We may be very good at that, yet be in a spiritual slumber, and not be spiritually awake, alert, and on guard against the schemes of the enemy. We may be busy working in the church or doing many "Christian" duties, and works, all good, but be in a spiritual slumber, actually running away from dealing with the things God wants to deal with in our lives.
When we have a task before us, we gear up for it and prepare. We muster up the strength to do it, and we stick to it even through the fatigue in order to finish it and get it done. J, F, & B commentary says, "The danger requires promptness." There are spiritual dangers we face, even unawares, every day. It requires the effort to be prompt and diligent in the meditation of the Word, in prayer, and in waiting on the Lord. We cannot measure up to the spiritual battles in our own strength. To think we can is very foolish. Jesus warned His disciples that even though the spirit is willing in them to do right, to follow Him, the flesh is very weak, and we must not slumber or suddenly calamity overtakes us.
Matthew 26:33-35
(33) Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."
(34) Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."
(35) Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same.
Matthew 26:40-41
(40) And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour?
(41) Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Matthew 26:74-75
(74) Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately the rooster crowed.
(75) And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.
We must learn to know our own flesh, its weaknesses, and how many subtle ways it demands to have its way in us, giving a foothold to the enemy to tempt us and lead us down the wrong path, or into sin, or into a deceptive busyness that is not the business of the Lord. To be wakeful and watchful, is to be spiritually alert through prayer and listening to the voice of our Lord in His Word, as He reveals these things to us daily, and to take His side against our own flesh and pride, against the enemy and against everything false. Then we must put forth the effort to respond accordingly, as He shows us what must be acted on. We must be diligent to act on it and not let it slide.
Sleep is very subtle. You wake up in the morning to an alarm, and you are still groggy. Your body is telling you, "just a little more rest, and then I'll get up." But you fall back into a deep sleep and before you know it a couple more hours have passed and you wake up to a phone call telling you you are late! Or you have to get up and hurry and scramble to make up for the 2 hours you just slept through, and you can't possibly get the quality of time you would have had if you had gotten up on time. It is the same spiritually. If we tell ourselves, "I'll take care of it tomorrow." We find ourselves ignoring it and even forgetting it, and the longer we do so the easier it is to do. Suddenly the trial comes and we are scrambling to find the Lord's presence, to find His counsel, and to know what to do. If we had been diligent in the first place we would always be ready to stand dressed in His armor and ready for the battle, ready to face the problem, the temptation, the loss, or whatever it is. If not we are left to our own devices many times and that will always fail to bring about God's purposes in our lives.
Is the Lord drawing you to seek His face? Do you feel that heart tug to spend more time with Him? Do you feel conviction to talk to someone or make something right in your home or in a relationship? Are you being called to pursue a certain path God wants to take you on? Don't put it off, because the opportunity won't be there forever. When God calls us that is the time He will give us the grace to obey. Later is many times too late. We lose the ferver and the will many times, and miss out on what God would have for us.
Rising up out of a deep sleep takes strong will-power and effort. Rising up out of spiritual slumber takes effort on our parts as well, and when the Lord is convicting and drawing and saying to your heart, "arise!" that is the time He will also give you the grace to obey as you yield yourself to Him, and simply say, "Yes, Lord, I give myself over to your strength to do so." There is no gain without effort.
I remember a movie line once where a woman in the movie was always saying, "you have to put forth the effort!" For some reason that line has stuck with me, and when I feel weary, and wanting to lay my spiritual head down and slumber for a time, that line comes back to me again and again, "Ginny, you have to put forth the effort!"
(Colossians 1:29) For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
When the Lord calls us, He Himself works His own energy in us powerfully to do the task. When we work on our own, we become weary. We must continually be built up in Him and strengthened in the power of His might.
Many times when I have a job to do, I tend to put it off and go do a job that I enjoy more...like working in my kitchen, baking or doing something creative, rather than spending time on my hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor or toilet. Many times we look for something we find self-fulfilling or rewarding to do in the church and busy ourselves with that which enriches our social life, rather than that which the Lord is calling us to do. It can take the place of the more important things the Lord is working in our lives, and actually hinder our spiritual growth. We think we are growing spiritually when we are doing something we thrive in and have lots of feedback and reward immediately for it. But maybe the Lord is calling you to do something else that takes time and commitment and a loss of pride, hard spiritual work of seeking His face and struggling in prayer, and waiting on Him, and causing you to give up things that you enjoy for a time, even though good things. We can put ourselves in a spiritual slumber by replacing God's will with other seemingly good works, yet disregarding the very thing He is pointing to, and calling us to, which would require us to give up our fulfilling "works" and doings in order to answer Him in humility and obedience. Maybe He has us in a place we don't want to be, and is calling us there for a time, even though it is not pleasant. We try to escape. We think to ourselves, "I would be much more effective for God if I were in this other place, or able to do so much more if I were over there!" But God has us here, where He is dealing with us, where He is exposing things to ourselves in our own hearts, where He is teaching us humility, love, patience, longsuffering, and where He is wanting to reveal Himself to us and conform us to the image of Jesus. We don't understand, but He is doing a work in us wherever He calls us and puts us. Wherever that is, we must wake up from our slumber, and seek His face, and wait on Him, and find HIS path through it giving up our own, no matter how long that takes. We must not mistake emotional fulfillment with the fulfillment of God's will in our lives. Real growth comes from true obedience to God, denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him. He takes us aside at times to work in us to make us, before He can truly use us in the work He has for us.
We must not slumber through this life, just passively going along wherever the waves of life take us. But we must be diligent and wakeful. He has provided all we need for this. His Word gives us the guidance and the knowledge of His will, the washing and cleansing from our own ways and that of the world, and His Spirit provides us the energy, the indwelling strength and power to do so, and to carry out what He calls us to. Now is not the time to slumber. Now is the time to be awake and alert, as the world and the powers of darkness are surrounding us, and to be diligent, putting forth the effort, to stand and to walk unwavering, the path He has before us, setting aside every weight, and running the race, as we wait for His coming.
Maranatha!
If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
SORROW AND SIGHING SHALL FLEE AWAY
Isaiah 51:11-15
(11) And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
(12) "I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,
(13) and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?
(14) He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking.
(15) I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name.
There is a day coming when Israel will be restored to God, and all they have endured of God's wrath, as well as the oppression of the nations who all come against them, will be turned around, and God Himself will comfort, secure, and forever wipe away their tears. These promises were to the nation of Israel. And God never fails to keep His promises. His promises to His church also assure us that there is coming a day when every tear will be wiped away from our eyes...all those who have come to know Jesus Christ, as well as the remnant of Israel, will in that day, find His everlasting salvation through Christ alone. Ultimately God brings all things together under Christ in the end (Ephesians 1:9-10). There will be an end. That is, there will be an end to sorrow and sighing and all things evil and everything that causes oppression, depression, anguish, and despair.
Revelation 21:1-7
(1) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
(2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
(3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
(4) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
(5) And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
(6) And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
(7) The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
There is a resurrection, and that only because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He was the only One able to save us. He alone was perfect, holy, and true. He alone was able to take on our sin, in our place, and fulfill all the righteousness of the law. Now He is risen. And those who trust in Him are risen with Him, even now in their stand before Him, with the promise of eternal life that no man can take away. No one is able to snatch us out of His hands. They would have to reach up into Heaven itself and somehow destroy the work of Christ, which can never be done. It is finished! Praise the Lord! What is risen in Heaven, is risen forever. It cannot be thrown back down to earth or undone because it is hidden in Christ Himself and His resurrection (Colossians 3:1-4). Our life is in Him, and it is there secured forever. So now we rejoice in that hope of glory, even as we suffer in our unredeemed fleshly bodies here below awaiting His return and that final redemption.
Romans 5:1-5
(1) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(3) Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
(4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
(5) and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
This is why Christians for centuries would rather face unspeakable tortures and death rather than deny Him. This is why communists, socialists, fascists, and ISIS can never defeat Christianity no matter how many Christians they slaughter. This is why we face the tsunami of evil forces in this world right now and the blindness and the unspeakable craziness and do not give up hope and do not fear what is coming. If we are in His Word, we know what is coming. It saddens us, because we see their judgment and their horrible end is coming soon for them even though they are having their evil day now. Rather than give in to the anger and rage against them, we fight them with spiritual weapons of warfare, with truth, with prayer, with His love, with standing in the full armor of God against the evil day, because we are sure and firm in the finished work of Jesus Christ, knowing nothing they do can hurt us. They can't even take us out of this world unless the Lord says, "time to come home my child." It may appear they are winning but they are not. God's purposes will prevail. The enemy thought He was destroying God's plan in Jesus Christ when he crucified Him. But what he meant for evil God turned for good, and for salvation of the world...whosoever will. In the unspeakable evil of the Holocaust, which was a work of satan and his hosts, God brought forth the nation of Israel once again, in order to fulfill His promises of salvation to His chosen people in the end times, and finish the salvation and redemption of the world. Even now, what the enemy means for his unspeakable evil and terror, as we trust in God, He will use for good, to reveal Himself to mankind - as a Savior to those who believe in Him, and as a righteous judge to those who refused.
We have the hope of His glory through the power of His resurrection. We not only have that hope for one day in the future, but we have that living hope with us day by day as we walk this earth. That hope and that resurrection power lives in us. The more we let go of this world the more we realize it's power and the more power we have in our lives to stand against fear, against evil, and against all that would come against Jesus Christ. The enemies greatest weapons are his lies and deceptions, and fear. Once we have victory over these, there is not one thing He can do to us. This is true freedom. This is the freedom that comes through the power of His resurrection when He lives in our hearts.
Many people talk about a loved one living in their heart. "Aunt Mildred is not gone, she'll always live in my heart." But Aunt Mildred is not present, and she is not capable of giving you her spirit, and she cannot live in your heart, really. You may retain your memory of her and that memory lives in your heart. But when Jesus comes to live in our hearts, it is not His memory. It is not a mental thing or an emotional thing. It is reality. He gives His Holy Spirit to those who put their faith in His forgiveness through His blood, and in His resurrection for their justification. When He arose from the dead, He did not leave us alone in this world to make it ourselves, just on our own power. He gave us His own power. He gave us His Spirit to indwell us, so that just as He walked in this earth, relying on that power and on His Heavenly Father, we have the very same access and power. The very same Spirit in Christ that raised Him from the dead now dwells in every true born again child of God, enabling Him to overcome the powers of death in this world (Ephesians 1:11-2:9).
Don't place your hope in things that will fail you. The arm of man will fail you. Political leaders will fail you. Laws of men will fail you and be disregarded, broken, and changed. But there is One Who will not change, and Who knows all, and Who will do just what He foretold He will do, carrying out every promise and every Word to the end, until sorrow and sighing shall flee away, and all things that hurt will be destroyed.
It is only because of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior that we can rejoice in hope of the glory of God. That glory is our glory, and our hope, and our eternal promise. Praise the Lord! Come Lord Jesus!
If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
OFFENCES MUST COME
skandalon (offense)
Thayer Definition:
1) the movable stick or trigger of a trap, a trap stick
1a) a trap, snare
1b) any impediment placed in the way and causing one to stumble or fall, (a stumbling block, occasion of stumbling), i.e. a rock which is a cause of stumbling
1c) fig. applied to Jesus Christ, whose person and career were so contrary to the expectations of the Jews concerning the Messiah, that they rejected him and by their obstinacy made shipwreck of their salvation
2) any person or thing by which one is (entrapped) drawn into error or sin
"He who gives the offense, and he who receives it, are both exposed to ruin." ~Adam Clarke
There are so many offenses in the world. We can even unwittingly be used by the devil, as Peter was, even though we love the Lord (Matt. 16:23). How can we ever be sure we are not offending another? It seems overwhelming to think about.
Recently someone offended me. That person did not have any awareness that they did so. Yet I had to struggle through the hurt feelings it caused, the bitterness that was rising up, the feeling that I needed to somehow be vindicated, etc. None of us likes to be talked down to. Sometimes it is more the tone of a person's voice, or even their body language, more than what they say. I seem to be a person very sensitive to those things. Too sensitive I'm afraid. It's my struggle. But perhaps even through this, the Lord has enabled me more to understand others and be more compassionate and sensitive to them.
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle. (Pro 18:19)
Let's try to remember what the Lord wants to accomplish when we speak to people and especially when speaking as a messenger of Christ. All it takes is the wrong tone or body language to become a tool of the enemy rather than a servant of Christ. Our hearts become like the walls of a castle and bricks of hurt and bitterness are so easy to build on top of each other, but so hard to tear down. It's the little foxes or offenses that spoil the vine or bring hard feelings in a church or on Facebook, or between friends or family.
This verse is referring to things that cause others to sin, specifically. We can try so hard to make someone see "the truth" or the "right" way of looking at our position, that we forget that we are representing Christ. We can build castle walls instead of helping them to see. What's our motive? To win an argument? To put them in their place? Or to bring them to see the love of Christ and His goodness and how He would have us do things? We forget love and mercy. We forget to be gracious. We forget compassion.
There are so many offenses in the church that go on unnoticed. People leave a church because of an offense and nobody knows why or understands. Maybe it was a harsh word spoken (or taken that way, whether or not it was meant), or maybe just a feeling they are not accepted and loved, or respected, or they even feel rejected, so they feel they cannot possibly receive from such, or find a place where they themselves can be useful in that church, so they go on, either looking for that somewhere else, or just altogether give up and stay home. You cannot tell that person he/she should not be hurt. Well, they are hurt, whether you think it is justified or not. They are left to struggle through it, to forgive, to try to go on, even though in your mind they may be hashing over something insignificant. To their hearts it was significant and unfortunately you cannot fix that by telling them they shouldn't feel that way.
Sometimes our hurtful words, our slighting another, our body language, or our neglect of people can cause them to sin. Oh yes, we are all responsible for our own sin, and as we stand before the Lord we will be judged alone for how we respond to others and whether or not we will take the offense to the Lord and act according to His Word through the grace and power of His Spirit in us. We must, however, be careful to not be the one causing that offense as much as it is up to us.
So Lord, what do I do when I find I am the one offended. In my flesh I feel like crawling up in my home and staying away, or reacting in anger and lashing out, hurting back. I need to protect myself. I feel like soothing my wound and justifying my bitterness. The enemy loves to feed it, as I hash it over and over in my mind, feeling all over again the hurt that it caused. It gets blown up out of proportion in my mind and emotions. How do offenses cause us to sin? It puts a wall between believers. I can no longer respect or receive from that person who hurt me, who will not see how they hurt me, and will go on thinking they are right, without considering how they made me feel. I can sin by going to others and talking about it, to try to find validation for how I am feeling. That will also cause them to look down on that person and take up my bitterness and distrust of them, maybe destroying the others' effectiveness for the Lord. A root of bitterness quickly grows in the body of Christ, and is like a cancer that eats away. The enemy loves it and uses it often to divide and destroy and isolate believers. It tempts people to put themselves first and their own needs above others. It tempts people to self-righteousness and pride. It tempts to gossip. It destroys fellowship with each other and with the Lord. It breaks communion with God. "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.'"(1 Pet 4:8, NKJV) . "Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins." (Prov 10:12, NKJV)
We may think it a little thing when someone is offended by our actions or words. We may think they should just get over it. But cancer also starts out as a very small thing in the body. It is undetectable at first. It may even take a long time to grow to where it is noticeable and even longer before any symptoms or pain is felt from it. But it is there and it will surely grow and do its damage and bring death if not dealt with. The earlier it is dealt with the easier it is to stop. It gets to a certain place where it is terminal, and the damage to the whole body results to it until it brings death. We must put a stop to it in our own hearts before it gets to that place. We must recognize the schemes of the enemy and not become his tool. We must be careful not to be a cause of offense for someone else and if we have been we must go to them and make it right, with a spirit of humility. People can tell if you are genuine or not. Don't think you fool anyone if you aren't. You may justify yourself for thinking you did your part, but you left the cancer to continue growing.
Some offenses need to be confronted as in Matt. 18:15-19. But some need to be overlooked, forgiven, and you need to move on. Yet the enemy loves to stir it up in your heart and make you go over and over and over it. So it becomes hard to do. We are tempted to tell friends so they take our side and make us feel justified in our feelings. The enemy would love that. All things are possible with Christ. I can do all through Him Who strengthens me. That includes forgiving. Because Jesus forgave me when I hurt others, even unknowingly, and because of His love for that one who hurt me, and His purposes in their lives that is far beyond my purposes, and because of His love for the body of Christ, and His love in me, I can forgive - when I look away from me and look to Him, when I see Him as my all in all. When I quit seeking "self" and seek His face. I see all from His perspective. His grace is sufficient for me. In my weakness He is my strength. Will I take God's side, or the enemy's? Lord, enable me to always take Your side, not my own, and not the enemy's! We can know that if there is vindication needed, that in love, the Lord is able to do that - His way. We don't have to take matters into our own hands. We can trust the Lord to work in hearts and minds, and in the end as we submit to the Lord, He is able to work. As we submit to humility in our own hearts, He is able to bring that to others also. There comes a point where you have to give room for God to work, and go on, trusting all in His hands.
I think of the strong dispute Paul and Barnabas - good friends - brothers in the Lord - servants of Christ - had with one another over whether or not to take John Mark with them (Acts 15:36-39). They separated because they could not agree. Apparently somewhere along the way the Lord worked in hearts, and brought reconciliation, because later Paul asked that Mark be brought to help and that he found him very useful (2 Timothy 4:11). Offenses come, differences come, disagreements happen, yet through all we must take them before the Lord, allowing Him to work in our hearts to bring us to see His heart and act according to His purposes and not our own. We must put others before ourselves, and think of them before ourselves. We need to see how serious it is to offend one of those whom Christ shed His precious blood for. Through Christ, we are able to surrender our hearts in sincerity to Him, forgetting ourselves, and taking up our cross and following Him wherever He will lead us. It's about pleasing Him and not offending Him, but trusting in Him. Lord, enable me to come to the place where I am more concerned about what offends You than what offends me!
If you want to know more about this salvation and are not sure you are going to Heaven, you can know. His Word assures us how we can know. Click here to read more.